Capitol hearings return

A photo of the Texas state capitol building in Austin was run through the Google DeepDream system. (Original image by Gary Coronado, Houston Chronicle)

A photo of the Texas state capitol building in Austin was run...

The two legislative hearings this week, regarding abortion and jail standards, are magnifying issues that matter to the loudest parts of both parties.

Capitol observers and those with interests in reproductive rights in Texas, who have been in the cross hairs of state Republicans for years, have been preparing for this week's Senate Health and Human Services Committee. "The committee will meet to examine the business practices and regulatory structure of Planned Parenthood affiliates in Texas, and to investigate whether state or federal laws are being broken by Planned Parenthood and/or its affiliates in Texas in regards to the donation and/or sale of fetal tissue," according to the notice of public hearing.

Late Monday came news that Attorney General Ken Paxton would testify before state Sen. Charles Schwertner's committee. Suffice it to say that reporters, and maybe several Democrats on the panel, will have several pointed questions for Paxton about everything but the Planned Parenthood videos. According to previous reports, his office has shown committee members a new video discovered during its investigation, but did not give lawmakers copies of the video and made them sign non-disclosure agreements to view it.

So, Paxton obviously wants the new video in the conversation on Wednesday, but whether anyone else will get a sense of what is on that tape is uncertain. Meanwhile, his chief of staff told The Dallas Morning News that Paxton can't get into the details of an ongoing investigation. But that, it seemed, was enough for the crowd of pro-life supporters to rally at the Capitol on Tuesday, arguably the official start of the next abortion debate in Texas.

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Meanwhile, the House County Affairs Committee will -- "in the wake of the Sandra Bland arrest and death" -- look into how lawmakers may reform state jail standards and procedures regarding "potentially mentally ill persons in county jails." The committee, chaired by Rep. Garnet Coleman, a black Democrat from Houston, will take up the lingering questions from the Bland case that go beyond what happened to the 28-year-old Illinois native. The actions of already cash-strapped county and local jails will be under heightened scrutiny that the issue does not easily receive when lawmakers are in session.

There may be another hearing coming, too. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has asked state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, to use his power as Senate Criminal Justice Committee chairman to investigate changes to state jail and police procedures in wake of Bland's death.

Both committees are focused on what has become the stories of the summer, but it's not just that. They both have Texas connections and have stirred national curiosity and outrage, fueled in both cases largely by social media. Lawmakers in both parties may have found their issues that they will take into 2017 -- for Republicans, that certainly seems the case -- and the early fight over control of the narrative and lawmakers' minds begins, in earnest, on Wednesday.